


Rose Gold

by clariftshefani



Category: Shefani
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:36:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29318745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clariftshefani/pseuds/clariftshefani
Summary: We could be timeless, we could be classicWe could be stars, we could be rose goldShe thought she was running away, she didn't know she was coming home.He thought everyone he loved would leave him, he didn't know how wrong he was.
Relationships: Blake Shelton/Gwen Stefani
Comments: 13
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1 (Pilot)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, hello. Well first of all welcome. a quick warning this is the first time I write something in English (i used to write but Spanish is the same), so if you want me to keep going updates might be a little slow and not perfect so be patient with me.  
> I've had this idea for a while, and I hope I can get it across well enough. So enjoy :)

The loud music inside the bar gets mixed with the loud voices of the crowd, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, most of them sharing laughs with their group of friends and drinking a variety of alcoholic beverages. It might sound crazy, but even though he is surrounded by noise, it doesn’t seem to be too loud for him. It gives him comfort, like he is not that alone, like he is real. He is there, at the back of the bar covering for the bartender who took a ten minute break to get an important phone call. He gets to feel the heat in the place and the smell of alcohol and wood, he can see people smiling, hugging, kissing. He is breathing, he is awake, he is part of this world.

Blake muffles a yawn with his hand, scanning the room for some people demanding a refill but it’s strangely quiet by the amount of people there and his body is exhausted. His Fridays have been like his for quite some time, very long, like the day never ends. Honestly everyday was like this particular summer day, warm and with a clear sky. that type of day that called him to spend it outside in the woods or the lake, only to realize he was working two jobs every weekend and that his woods, the place he called home where he wanted to be right now, was far away in another state. Nashville has been the place he lived in for so long and yet it never really felt like home.

Someone asks for a beer, the guy looks already hammered but since this isn’t really his job he decides to give him another round of it and add it to his tab. He can see the bartender coming back inside from the back door when someone gets his attention. Blake is pretty sure he hasn't seen this girl before in his life, she looks almost out of place in the middle of a country bar full of plaid shirts and cowboy boots. Her platinum blonde hair falling delicately on her bare shoulders, and covering most of her profile from his point of view. The stranger is playing with an empty glass absentmindedly, not caring about the cheering from the group of people near her that are playing a silly drinking game. She holds so much beauty with her white tank top and skinny jeans, it almost gives him goosebumps. 

He doesn’t know he’s walking towards her until he hears his own voice

“Can I get you something? It looks like your glass it’s tired of spinning around” he says with a hint of a smile

She looks up at him, suddenly noticing they’re actually talking to her. Blake can feel his heart strumming in his chest while her eyes lock with him, she is so pretty he almost gets lost at the sight of her. The woman smiles shyly but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

“I guess I’ll have another glass of wine” she answers, allowing him to refill the same glass with red liquid. 

It’s obvious to him that she is not from around here, not many people drink red wine in this type of bar. And he has the urge to ask her a million questions, to get to know her and understand how a beautiful girl like her is drinking alone at a bar in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee. The woman thanks him in a whisper but she doesn’t drink it just yet and Blake can visibly see her thinking

“Is it one of those nights?”

“I’m sorry?” the pretty girl asks coming back into reality

He gives him a little smile “it looks like it’s been a hard day”

“Oh… It’s been… a tiresome day” she murmures before taking the glass to her lips for a large gulp of liquid, she breaks eye contact with him fast too fast for his liking. 

There’s something in her demeanor that makes him want to stay there talking to her even if it’s mindless small talk. There’s a sadness in those eyes that doesn’t seem foreing to his own life and he wants to wipe it out of them because that doesn’t suit such pretty eyes. He wants her smile to illuminate her entire being, like a neon light in the middle of the dark. It’s a scary thought to have towards a stranger, maybe he is going crazy or he is too tired and his brain is acting weird.

“I haven’t seen you around here before… I’m Blake” he continues once their eyes meet once again.

“Gwen” she blurts out between sips of wine “do you work here?”

“Hey, Shelton!” the bar’s manager calls him “You are up, man!”

He looks over his shoulder giving the man a thumbs up letting him know he received the message and turns around to look at her one last time smiling.

“I guess that’s my queue, duty calls”

Blake grabs a beer on the way to the small stage in the back of the place, where someone is waiting for him with a guitar in hand. His band is already up there tuning their instruments. He takes a deep breath closing his eyes for a few seconds. Takes in the bar noises, the laughs, the excitement, like he was about to take the stage in a full sold out stadium. He almost laughs at how silly it is to dream this big after years of struggling with this career. But despite his gloomy thoughts and tired body, he gives his everything with every string of his guitar, every note he sings. This is what he was born to do, sing country songs, tell all these stories about love, about home, about partying with friends. He wants this to be his legacy, to be remembered by the words he wrote on these songs.

He would be lying if he says he didn’t try to look for her in the crowd. She was there, though. Every time he dared to look at the foreign woman, her brown eyes were on him, listening to every word, taking them in, feeling all those emotions the songs emoted. It was beautiful to see and he feels so crazy when he realizes it fuels him to give a better performance knowing he caught her attention.

**

It takes Blake at least forty minutes to say goodbye to his band and friends after his show, they insisted he should stay a bit more and have some drinks but as much as he loves them, he needs a warm bed and some sleep. Saturday is going to be as busy as today, having an early start at the radio station. Wondering if the pretty girl he met earlier had gone home, he exits the building taking a big breath of fresh air once he’s on the street. He looks for his car keys but some voices make him to his right side. There are two guys slurring compliments drunkenly to someone, and he locks his jaw when he sees that beautiful hair now tied on a messy bun in the middle of them, looking at the floor visibly scared. She’s hugging her own waist trying to keep the warmth of her body and at the same time to protect herself from the situation. The guys look both hammered or stoned. Who knows, probably they did both things, and they don’t seem to back down even if she’s trying not to pay attention to their advances. It disgusts him to see this behaviour so often and how a lot of people passing choose to ignore it.

“There you are!” he calls her as if she was outside waiting for him “so sorry I took so long, darlin’. Is everything alright?”

Blake slides his arm around her shoulders looking at the two men protectively, he can feel the relief in her body instantly but she doesn’t answer him back, she also had a few too many glasses of wine by the look on her glassy eyes. The two men mumble some apologies immediately, finally taking a no for an answer.

“Assholes” he whispers under his breath when they go back inside the bar, removing his hand on her shoulders 

“Thank you” she says after swallowing hard,

“Gwen, right?” he asks, like he didn’t remember her name, though he does remember it, it was already in his brain “are you okay?”

“Yeah… I needed some air. I didn’t think they would approach me if I ignored them” her answer is spoken in a mumble, almost a whisper like she is struggling to get them out. He doesn’t want to think what would’ve happened if he didn’t do something “they thought I was drunker than I am” 

“Drunk or not, that is not an excuse for them to be that invasive” Blake states “allow me to give you a ride home, or call you an Uber if you don’t feel comfortable”

“Oh no, don’t worry. I walked here. My rental apartment is a few blocks away. Thank you, Blake” his heart skips a beat at the sound of his name on her red lips.

“Well, let me walk you then” he insists trying to ignore the fact she remembered his name too “It’s late and these streets are not that safe for you or anyone to walk alone, please. Just so I can make sure you got home safely”

Her lips curve in a small smile while she nods and they start walking down the streets of Nashville slowly calming down from a typical weekend summer night. They don’t talk but it’s not awkward like he thought it could be, it feels easy like they just don’t need to fill in the silence. She sways a little bit while walking and he allows her to lean on him from time to time to steady herself and she seems to sober up after a few blocks

“Do you ever feel like running away?” she asks suddenly looking and sounding exhausted “like you need a fresh start somewhere completely different... I thought leaving my problems in California was the solution. But I don’t think it worked”

Of course he had that feeling. He has days when everything becomes too much and he finds himself thinking about running for or away from something. He would never run away from his problems or at least he tries not to, because his life changed eight months ago and he decided to stop running

“Sometimes I guess we need a change of scenery to put things into a different perspective” he says softly “I would be lying if I say that running away from one’s problems it’s the right thing to do... But sometimes it’s inevitably, sometimes we have to get out from what is hurting us”

She looks at him with so much longing then behind her tipsy haze, her eyes at the verge of tears. Blake can see her suffering, and he has to fight the urge to hold her. He stays where he is with his hands on his pockets

“I thought the same thing. But the hurt and the heartbreak are still here, I carry everything with me and sometimes it’s so overwhelming”

“Whatever you are going through, Gwen is going to be fine. You are going to be ok” he whispers touching her shoulder softly.'' So many beautiful things come after immense sadness, like when the sun comes out after a heavy summer storm, all the the leaves look greener. Life has to be more than just heartbreak”

The last part is addressed more to himself than to her, but she appreciates it anyway because she thanks him softly wiping a single tear from her cheek. They weren’t far from her apartment building, so Blake doesn’t have time to ask more questions or talk to her a little bit more. But Gwen surprises him when after saying goodbye she leans in and gives him a small kiss on his cheek. He’s not expecting and he blushes at the feeling of her lips long after she gets into the building, after he found his truck and even when he parked on his driveway he could still feel that simple kiss.

**

The house is almost dark except for the light on the tv in the living room when he arrives, quickly the light is gone and he turns on the lights

“Why are you in the dark? You can use the lights, Amy. I won’t be mad” he says to the teenager sitting in the living room with a chuckle

“I know, Mr Shelton. She was asleep most of the time, and ” she says, grabbing her own car keys and her belongings “grandma will be here tomorrow morning before you leave. If you need anything, call us”

“Thank you kid, go to sleep and don’t go to any parties!” he warns, even if he knows that the girl is a total saint “because your grandmother will kill me and you both”

Her laugh fills the room from the doorway and soon he is alone again. He sighs in relief to be home after the longest day, he feels relaxed already. There’s no need for him to turn any lights on, he knows where everything is without any doubt. He even knows the baby gate at the top of the stairs is closed. The night light is on as always when he opens the door and he can feel himself smiling already, he softly approaches the small crib and what he finds is a pair of sleepy eyes looking back at him.

“Hi, sweetheart” he whispers with the biggest smile “Daddy is here. It’s too late for you to be up this late, missy. Let’s go to sleep”

He runs his hand through those beautiful baby curls singing a lullaby until she finds slumber again and he can’t believe his life. How everything can be a stressful mess, how his life can be surrounded by grief and pain, how everything can be in black and white but as soon as he looks at this little baby nothing else matters and everything is full of color. Just like when the sun comes out after a heavy storm, all the leaves look greener.


	2. Chapter 2

She wakes up by the dim light that comes through the closed curtains. Her head is slightly banging from the wine last night and she groans at the feeling of the small wine hangover. It’s not like she regrets it, it was a different experience for sure but she felt the inspiration she thought she lost coming back for a little while. Being surrounded by such an opposite environment from the California scene was so intriguing and exciting that before going to bed she got some sketches done just for the fun of it. It’s another day though and she is disappointed to find the sadness again, the one that led her to a random bar in Nashville to have some drinks and maybe forget about all her failures.

The phone interrupts her train of thought, she grimaces as she realizes the sound doesn’t help her headache. Gwen sits up in the bed slowly to peak at her phone rubbing her temple to ease the pain, and as much as she is not in the mood to talk to anyone, she has to take this call

“Hello?” her voice is still raspy from last night

“ _Gwennie? Are you ok?_ ” the female voice on the other side seems concerned but doesn’t want to show it. Gwen knows better

“I’m fine, Jen. I just woke up” she doesn’t mean to sound annoyed but she wishes her family wouldn’t worry this much

_“You know we worry_ ” Jen answers lovingly letting her annoyance slip “ _I just wanted to check on you, it’s been a few days since we talked_ ”

Gwen sighs, she doesn’t mean to avoid her family and friends. It’s not their fault her life is a mess but she can help to feel like they don’t really understand her struggles, they are happy people. Her parents have loved each other since forever, the same with her brother and Jen and sometimes she gets overwhelmed at how much she wants a love like theirs. It’s too much for her to handle

“I know, I’m sorry. I have been busy” that is not a complete lie, but it’s not the truth either “I had some writing sessions with this girl, she’s a talented artist” 

She doesn’t want to get into too much detail, Jen might notice how insecure she feels about everything going on in her life. Moving to Nashville, starting to work again, trying to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. So, they talk about simple small things, about Todd’s kids and how much they miss her, about her parents and how they’re doing, they even talk about the Tennessee weather before Jen says goodbye hurried by Gwen’s niece, Stella demanding breakfast.

She feels a wave of tears coming and she tries to suppress them, when she thinks at how much she wants that to be her life. A house full of laughter and the sound of little feet running around, kids demanding breakfast and night stories. That simple kind of life she always dreamed of but somehow never got to live. Gwen doesn’t want to cry about this anymore so she finally gets up to make some coffee and something for her headache. She needs to use these feelings somehow, let them channel through her and make them into something else, it might be for survival. But she needs the studio by herself.

** 

She’s been meaning to do this for the last couple of days, she never got the opportunity to thank that stranger that saved her from a dangerous situation the other night at the bar. That country singer, Blake. She walks by that bar all the time on the way to the studio and every time has a chill running down her spine for very different reasons. Firstly, it’s because of his performance, the passion in his singing voice and the way he emoted the feelings of those country songs she doesn’t know anything about. And then, Gwen remembers she was drinking alone at a bar, that she was drunk and unsafe, and that terrifies her. Because she was so close to ending up in a horrible situation when those guys tried to hit on her and wouldn’t back down. At the moment she thought she was still in control of what was happening but now she is not that sure. The realization makes her mad, and that feeling alone sparks some lyrics in her mind.

Now she takes a deep breath in the sidewalk in front of the bar door in the early evening, the sun hiding down in the horizon. It’s early and the place is pretty much empty, Gwen remembers it’s a weeknight and she feels so silly doing this. She doesn’t have any idea what she is doing here

“Sweetheart? Can I help you with something?” a male voice interrupts her rumbling thoughts.

When she turns around a man is looking at her with a kind smile from behind the bar counter, she vaguely recognizes him from the other night but she can’t really remember. She feels so stupid doing this, looking for a total stranger.

“Hi, yes uhm… maybe?” Gwen can feel herself blushing in embarrassment for some reason “I was trying to find someone. He works here, I think… He performed a few nights ago, his name is Blake”

“Oh, you mean Shelton? Blake Shelton?” the guy asks smiling still “I’m Rob. He’s a friend of mine, I’m his bass player in the band”

Rob shakes her hand when she tells him her name, it’s so weird to her how nice everyone seems to be in this part of the country, everybody is genuinely welcoming and warm, it’s almost foreign to her coming from a big city where everything is rushed, everyone has an agenda and the selfishness is a common trait.

“I was wondering where I can find him… He helped me the other night and I just wanted to thank him” Gwen says very quietly.

“We don’t have any gigs here until the weekend ‘cause we are all working… But maybe you can still catch him at the radio station down the road, he had the afternoon shift this week”

After more clear directions on how to find the place she leaves the bar, the evening summer breeze feels cool on her burning skin, the street is full of people, locals and tourists merged together. She thinks going to Blakes workplace is stupid but before she can regret it she starts walking on that direction. There’s something in being spontaneous thrills her, like doing something different for a change without too much thought.

Gwen doesn’t feel that brave when she arrives there anymore. It’s a small country music radio station in the middle of the noisy street. There’s a single window in the front where people walking by can see the booth and the radio host in action. No one is inside at the moment but she gets to admire some of the decor inside the place, very earthy and it screams country music. It’s different to all the clean modern radio stations in California she’s seen, she likes this one much better. She decides it’s not a really good idea to look for him here, it’s definitely inappropriate in her eyes, it’s just stupid. However, the universe seems to think very differently because the minute she starts walking the front door opens and someone bumps into her. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry… Gwen?” 

There is still enough natural light to admire his features when she dares to look. He is more handsome than she remembers now that he’s close to her. His curls falling delicately on his forehead combined with his short beard and his blue eyes looking at her gives her goosebumps 

“uhm … Hi” she hears herself saying “I… Went to the bar and your friend Rob told me I could find you here”

Blake stays silent looking at her looking slightly confused putting his hands in his pockets as he waits for her to elaborate. She feels herself blush again slightly embarrassed. There’s no way to escape this now 

“I just wanted to thank you for the other night” she lets out slowly “I was a drunk mess and you really helped me so… yeah, thank you, Blake”

She wants to run far away and hide, but the smile that appears on his face is enough to nail her feet at the floor right where she is. Gwen doesn’t want to think how nice his smile is and how well it fits with his eyes, but she can’t help it.

“Hey, no problem” he says waving one of his hands like it wasn’t a really big deal “We all have those days, I’m glad I could help”

There’s a small awkward silence between them, both kind of avoiding each other’s gaze. She keeps looking at the people passing by and she doesn’t know what to do next.

“Can I invite you for a coffee?” he asks suddenly “There’s a good place across the street. Since you took the time to come here”

Maybe she should leave but there’s no way to deny she likes the idea so instantly she nods slowly and she follows him without any other word exchange

The place across the street ends up being a small old diner, it reminds her of a waffle house but far homier and cozier. As soon as they enter, she notices Blake must be a regular by the way the old lady behind the counter says hello in a thick southern accent, there are a bunch of old men who wave their hands to him on their way to the unoccupied small booth near the window. When they sit, Blake orders coffee and a piece of apple pie for both of them. The place is full of regulars and Gwen feels a little out of place in the middle of it, and yet the general vibe makes her feel so comfortable.

“So… You work at the radio station?” she dares to ask 

“I’m just a tech” he shrugs “I’m mostly behind the scenes putting on the music and turning on the mics. Sometimes I have to cover for some of the hosts and I get to rumble about country music for a while. How about you? What brings you to Tennessee?”

There’s this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thinks about the reason she’s here, why she left LA so suddenly. Gwen wishes she would forget about everything, to turn around from her past and move forward without any of the scars or the pain of the journey to get where she is right now. However, she knows that’s not possible. Life it’s like a roller coaster and some people get into one that’s full of twists and turns, with loops that leave you dizzy and confused.

“The short answer would be I am a songwriter and I’m working with some new artists here. That’s why I came technically” she chooses to be honest, after the other night’s small conversation she knows Blake can tell there’s more to that story “The long story might take a while”

“I have time” he says simply “If you want to talk about it, I can listen”

Right then and there there’s only a question in her mind, how is this person real? A total stranger she met singing at a bar is here to talk about her shitty life without any hint of annoyance in his eyes. He doesn’t push or feels uncomfortable asking. He’s not condescending, he just wants to listen to her story and that surprises her, she is definitely not used to that. 

“I am a songwriter” she begins after a long sip of coffee “in LA, I wrote with so many amazing people. Some songs did really good, to the point of being nominated for awards. I met my ex husband at a release party of one of the songs I co-written with a pop-rock band. He was a friend of theirs, and we had some drinks, danced all night… I fell so hard for that guy”

She swallows hard trying to get rid of the lump in her throat, and the trembling in her hands holding her cup with both of them 

“We got married rather quickly. Everyone in my family told me to wait a little, but I was so excited to be his wife, to have his kids. I wanted that life. So, I didn’t care. I would do anything to make him happy, even if that meant I would quit my songwriting, even if it meant I had to ignore the smell of someone else’s perfume on his clothes when he came home late… Our relationship was not good, and I got caught on it. I was always discouraged when it came to my job, he would diminish my abilities to do it, he would make me feel insecure and dumb for my choice of words or the way I expressed feelings. Eventually I stopped the writing completely and I ventured into other creative pathways”

“What a prick” she hears Blake whisper under his breath before taking a piece of pie from the plate.

> “I got into fashion. It was a hobby at first, I would design for myself and my closest friends from the industry and it became my job eventually. He didn’t like it, of course but I kept doing it because it was all I had that made me happy.” 

> “I kept putting up with his coldness and his mood swings, until one day I got home early and he wasn’t expecting me, you can imagine the rest… I sacrificed everything good in my life because I thought he was worth it, I thought I could change him and instead of doing that I changed myself in the process, to the point i didn’t know who I was anymore”

She needs a moment to collect her thoughts when she gets flooded with the memories. The sleepless nights she spent crying waiting for him, those days when the only thing she wanted to do was just stay in bed and hide from the world. The despair of finding out how much she changed without noticing and having no one to hold onto. She keeps her head down, avoiding Blake’s gaze just because she is not used to being this vulnerable and she has to try really hard to swallow back the tears when she feels his gentle hand on her wrist.

“Undone” she says suddenly looking at Blake again “The first song I wrote in... I don’t know how many years, before I realized that relationship was doomed, when I still believed he would care about me. After I signed the divorce papers, I found it randomly in one of my journals and It hurt so much to revisit it, I was in a very dark place. I didn't have the willpower to design or work... so I forced myself to turn the page and I started writing with no other motivation than getting every thought out of my mind. I haven’t stopped writing since then”

“I am so sorry this happened to you, Gwen. You didn’t deserve it” Blake’s eyes hold so much sincerity it almost scared how sure he is of his statement “he didn’t deserve you”

“You don’t know me” she whispers wiping her tears

“It doesn’t matter, I just know it” he whispers back, holding her wrist more firmly and moving his thumb up and down a little. And she can’t help the small smile it escapes from her lips.

They get interrupted by reality very soon when Blake’s phone starts ringing in his pocket. She can tell he is annoyed at the timing but he grabs the phone either way and excuses himself from the table. Gwen has the opportunity now of admiring him from afar, since he’s taller than most people in the place. He paces slowly while he listens to whoever called him, she knows she shouldn’t be staring but it seems impossible, she finds him so interesting and handsome.

He comes back quickly looking in a rush, wincing a little looking at her

“I am so so sorry, Gwen” he says, still grimacing, “I have to go, family emergency. I feel terrible leaving you here like this, you were talking about serious stuff an…”

“Hey, Hey! Blake don’t worry about me” she interrupts smiling “Go. I’ll be fine”

“Listen” He says while looking for his truck keys and wallet to pay for the coffees. “On Saturday I have an early gig... If you feel like it, we could it something afterwards, to make it up to you for rushing out”

She just nods because words are hard to find at the moment. He says goodbye with a smile on his face and a minute later he is gone. She takes her hand to her chest to feel her heart beating so fast. Did he just ask her out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long. And yes, i might have written some parts listening to Undone

**Author's Note:**

> Please give me your thoughts, thanks!


End file.
